Participating Research Teams (PRTs) are groups of researchers from one or more institutions that construct and operate beamlines and have primary responsibility for experiment endstation equipment. They are entitled to a percentage of the beamline's operating time based on the resources the PRT contributes to the beamline. To establish a PRT, team members submit a proposal in the form of a white paper outlining the scientific motivations for their request. The proposal is presented to the ALS Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) which reviews the submission and advises the ALS director on the formation of a new PRT.